HOW TO:Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 Brake Upgrade

[Heather]

I just finished the brake upgrade but am having to wait on some wheel spacers before I actually try it out. If you decide to do this, you will need some parts. Here is a list of what you will need.

1. 91-93 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 front calipers $100.00 shipped
2. 91-93 Mitsubishi 3000GT Vr4 front Rotors $ 85.00 shipped
3. Home Depot Grade 8 bolts and nuts 4 each 1/2" X 1 1/4" steel zinc plated. They are located in the drawers on the bolt isle.
4. Depending on your rims, you will need wheel spacers. For the 17" rims I have, I need 15mm spacers. For fds, you will need 1.25" spacers so there is a big difference between the widths you may need. All depends on the rim.

Optional equipment:
1. 91-93 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 front brake pads
2. ss brake lines for the mx6
3. If you plan on powdercoating your calipers, you will have to buy caliper rebuild kits and you have to get them at Napa. I could not find anywhere else that sells them.
4. Anything suspension wise that you may think you need to replace. For instance, I ended up replacing my endlinks, control arms, cv axles, I also got some replacement hub assemblies because I needed them. It all depends on the condition your car is in maintance wise.

I cant think of anything else you will need to do this except an angle grinder and a bunch of hand tools.

Ok, now here are a few pics of the differences between the stock rotors and calipers and the vr4 rotors and calipers.






As you can see, there is a pretty big difference between the two...haha
now as far as the actual process of doing it, here goes.

If you dont have air tools, you may want to take your car to a shop and have them loosen your 32mm axle nuts. They are about impossible to get off without air tools. If you do this without air tools and dont get them loosened at a shop, you will most likely have to take the entire hub assembly with the cv axle off in one piece. This is up to you as how you do this, but in order to modify the hub, you really need to take it off the car and this is the only two ways. I took the whole assembly off with the axles attatched. It is not that hard and with the axle still attatched it helps to keep the hub still when you go to grind it down. Now that this part is out of the way, lets get down to business.

1. Loosen lug nuts
2. Jack car up put jack stands underneath
3. Unbolt the caliper from the hub assembly (2 17mm bolts)
4. Unbolt the ball joint (1 14mm bolt w/nut)
5. Pull the pin out of the tie rod and unscrew the castle nut (17mm nut)
6. Unbolt the strut screws (2 17mm bolts with nuts)
7. Take clamp off brake line and pull the caliper off the rotor and let it hang.
8. Pull the rotor off.
9. Assuming you took the axle nut off, you can now pull the hub off.
10. Assuming you didnt take the axle nut off, pull the axle out with the hub attatched.


11. Now take the vr4 caliper and line it up to your hub assembly.
12. You can use masking tape on the mounting tabs to mark where you need to cut.
13. Take the grinder and start cutting. I wanted to give you dimensions on exactly how much to cut off, but it truly is a guessing game with this step. You will just have to grind and match it up and grind again until it fits.
14. Once you have it fitting, you will need to ream the mounting holes out because, although they line up almost perfectly, they are off just a hair so I reamed the holes out with a 1/2 inch drill bit. It makes them just a hair larger and makes the bolts fit nicely.




15. Once you have it to where it will bolt on, take it off and put the hub and axle or just the hub back on the car.
16 Now put it all back together.
17. Put the rotor on
18. Put the caliper on, bolt it down with your new bolts and nuts.
19. connect the brake line to the caliper
20. Put your wheel spacers on and then your rims.
21. Lower the car
22. bleed the brakes and take it for a spin.

I have not been able to test mine out yet so I dont know how they are yet. I have heard that they are great. I will say that because of having to modify the hubs and calipers, I cannot guarantee the safety of this upgrade. I know of two other people who have done this and have never heard of anything breaking, but like I said there are no guarantees in any modification, so do this at your own risk. Once I get my spacers, I will test it out and let you all know how well it holds up over the next few months. I do not race my car and will not push it to the limits so I do suggest you not do this if you are wanting to race your car at the track. The pressures and extreme forces you put on your car at race tracks will only add to the likely hood of the parts breaking. I do know that one of the other guys who did this, tested the car under heavy conditions for several months with no breaks, but like I said there are no guarantees. I wil let you know how well mine hold up over the next few months. Here are some finished pics. I wish I had some with the rim on, but hopefully will within a week.




Here are a few with the rotor on but no caliper




If you have any questions, please contact me on here or my email barrettdp@alltel.net

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